His iPhone is filled with snippets of rough acoustic and bare vocals and his Cape Breton home is covered in notebooks and scraps of paper. Jimmy Rankin is, quite literally, writing all the time.

“But I’m not a very good person to organize my stuff,” he laughed.

“I’ll put songs aside and wait for a lyric or a line for a long time. I’ll go back to them after months and dust them up … and sometimes, I forget about songs entirely.”

That’s the case with many tunes from Back Road Paradise, Rankin’s sixth and latest album, including Blame It All On You.

He wrote the catchy country number years ago, but stumbled upon it when looking to replace another track that fell short.

But by then, Rankin couldn’t remember the verses and had to rewrite them completely.

That’s just part of the songwriting process, he says.

Back Road Paradise is Rankin’s most country album yet, while still a little pop at heart. It definitely reflects how he’s been spending his time, living between Cape Breton and Nashville.

“Wherever I am in my travels, I’m always thinking about writing a song or ideas,” said Rankin.

“Nashville is one of the last music meccas of the planet for musicians from all over the world. When you go there as a musician or writer, you really feel at home there. You just bump into musicians from everywhere.”

There’s no question Rankin loves to collaborate — not surprising considering he grew up playing with his siblings at home and later as part of the Rankin Family.

He carries on that tradition in Back Road Paradise, teaming up with bluegrass darling Allison Krauss and Blue Rodeo’s Jim Cuddy.

“Generally, you sit down with a cup of tea and a glass of wine,” said Rankin.

“You come into the session with an idea and you talk about it. So if you’re with the right writer, it’s really fun and things can happen quickly. I’m always trying to find different people to write with.”

And that doesn’t necessarily mean other musicians.

In fact, some of Rankin’s best songs have been written sitting on the porch in Cape Breton with a few close pals.

When he’s not plucking away at the guitar or on the piano, he’s spending time with his son and daughter.

“It’s always a toss-up between family and work,” he said. “Writing is my free time.”

While his children are definitely artistic — “My son is a terrific drawer … and my daughter could be an actor. But her drawings are beautiful, too” — neither are really into music, or at least not yet. Out of his clan of nieces and nephews, there’s only one singer/songwriter, rising indie artist Molly Rankin.

To be honest, Rankin hasn’t thought much about it.

“If you get that music bug, when I did it as a kid, or the art bug or the acting bug, you have to go with it,” he said.

“And that’s what happens. Getting into the entertainment industry to be famous is the wrong reason.

“It’s something coming from within that definitely has to drive with you.”

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